Friday, March 08, 2013

Pricey Spring Break place

Looking for the best? According to this release, going on Spring Break on South Padre Island, tops the charts ...

Students who are planning to celebrate Spring Break in South Padre Island better make sure they've got plenty of money saved up before booking a last-minute trip. According to a new survey from HoustonHotels.net, hotel rates are soaring through the roof in the popular Texan resort town this main Spring Break week (March 11–17).

In South Padre Island, 20% of hotels still had available rooms on the day the survey was conducted (March 7), but at this eleventh hour, all of them were at least tripling their rates. Some were jacking up their prices substantially more than that even.

The Beachside Inn and Suites serves as a good example. This South Padre accommodation with a prime location just five minutes on foot from the beach regularly charges $71 for a Queen room. During the March 11–17 Spring Break timeframe, however, the same room will cost $524. That figure represents a 638% rate hike. Even for the cheapest available 2-star hotel room, Spring Breakers will have to spend at least $284 per night.

Bargain hunters who are thinking they'll just head to a different Texan beach will also be met with some serious Spring Break sticker shock. In Galveston and Port Aransas, for instance, hotel rates are also at least doubling. As a result, Spring Breakers will have to spend close to $200 nightly. Currently, Texas's cheapest beach destination is Corpus Christi. There, on the day the survey was conducted, rooms could still be had for less than $150.

Those Spring Breakers for whom being non-beachside is not a deal breaker do have some other options, though. Among urban destinations, hotel rates in Houston and Dallas are presently only about 40% higher than normal. In Austin, however, room rates are also tripling, less because of an influx of Spring Breakers and more because of the SXSW festival and the rodeo.

Check the full results of the survey at: http://www.houstonhotels.net/springbreak2013.html